Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is known as risk factor for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which can lead to confirmed dementia. T2D patients often take statins for cardiovascular prevention but, nowadays, it is not clear if these drugs could also prevent cognitive impairment.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the association between statins in primary or secondary cardiovascular prevention and cognitive performance in old T2D patients referring to our Internal Medicine offices.

Material and method: We enrolled 40 consecutive, over 60 years, T2D patients (average of 75 ± 6 years), nine females and 31 males, all affected by essential hypertension.

Patients affected by major adverse cardiovascular events or confirmed dementia were excluded. We registered anthropometric data (BMI 27.1 kg/m²) and evaluated major cardiovascular risk factors as pulse blood pressure (PBP) and all patients underwent Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a MCI screening test and Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) for the screening of executive functions impairment. Both tests were corrected for school grade and FAB also for age.

Results and conclusion: 21 patients taking statins got higher MoCA and FAB scores (respectively +17%, P = 0.015 and +15%, P = 0.048), higher pulse PBP (73 ± 17 vs 64 ± 11 mmHg, P = 0.046), and lower LDL levels (59 ± 29 vs 85 ± 34 mg/dl, P = 0.036) if compared with patients not taking these drugs. MoCA score was directly correlated to age (r = 0.329, P =0.038), while considering FAB no other significative correlation was found. Even considering potential confounders as age, sex, BMI, DBP and HbA1c, taking statins still remains associated to MoCA scores (β = 0.466, P = 0.002). To sum up, elderly T2D patients taking statins have a better cognitive performance compared with patients with same age and disease profile not taking this pharmacological class. Future treatment trials could explore the role of preventive therapy with statins in cognitive impairment development.